Chapter 58: Bounty Hunter Ambush, Naraku's First Real Fight, and Return to Konoha
Naraku and the group hurried along the road for a while when Jiraiya suddenly stopped and raised his palm: "Stop!"
The others also quickly sensed something was wrong. Soon, a group of malicious-looking bounty hunters flashed into view, surrounding them.
The leader of the bounty hunters spoke with ill intent to the group: "You came from the Konoha camp, right? If you tell us specific information about Senju Nawaki, I can consider letting you go!"
A bounty hunter beside him patted the leader. The leader then looked at Nawaki lying on Jiraiya's back and said: "We originally came just to catch a few stragglers and ask for intel to sell on the black market—this mission isn't that dangerous unless you're really unlucky. But now with Nawaki out of commission, the ninjas around him must be terrifyingly strong.
Brothers! We've got big money coming!"
Just as the atmosphere grew tense, some smarter bounty hunters quietly retreated behind the group, positioning the others in front as shields.
Originally this group had planned to grab one or two stray Konoha ninjas, get some intel, and sell it on the black market—a low-risk job.
But now with Nawaki incapacitated, the people around him were likely extremely dangerous.
Then Jiraiya handed Nawaki over to Naraku from his back. Jiraiya and Tsunade both assumed fighting stances, ready to kill.
But Naraku handed Nawaki to Miya instead and placed a mark on Nawaki's body.
He wanted to expand his currently limited combat experience.
Seeing the confused looks from the two, Naraku said confidently: "Leave these small fries to me. I just want to practice a bit."
The two were still worried, but Naraku didn't give them a chance to stop him. He directly charged forward with his sword drawn.
In truth, Naraku had absolute confidence. After all, he had Dimension Square as a safety net, three-tomoe Sharingan for genjutsu, and Wood Release.
Even if he got seriously injured by carelessness, his physique—thanks to previous talent replication—now had Intermediate Senju clan physique, giving him strong durability and excellent recovery. Plus Tsunade was right there, and he held "Incursio."
So as long as he didn't reveal his trump cards in this fight, it would count as a win.
The bounty hunters saw Naraku boldly rushing over and felt angry. They immediately attacked Naraku.
However, Naraku displayed astonishing speed and agility. The moment the attacks came, he instantly used Body Flicker to dodge the enemy's kunai assault.
One of the targeted ninjas realized he was the focus. He hurriedly began forming seals to disrupt Naraku's rhythm.
But Naraku's movements were simply too fast. After stimulating his body with Lightning chakra, he shot forward like lightning.
The ninja didn't even finish his seals before Naraku viciously cleaved him in half with "Incursio."
Perhaps because this was only Naraku's second time killing, he only felt slightly nauseous—mostly excitement from battle.
Seeing Naraku's swordsmanship so fierce, Jiraiya and Tsunade stopped trying to interfere. They just watched Naraku closely, ready to support if anything went wrong.
The bounty hunters were also frightened by Naraku's swordplay and tried to pull distance from him.
Naraku seized the opportunity and quickly formed seals.
"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"
As Naraku completed the seals, a powerful blaze erupted from his mouth. Although Naraku wasn't top-tier in chakra control, with his massive 10 Ka chakra reserves, the power of this ninjutsu was still shocking.
The flames of Great Fire Annihilation spread rapidly, instantly engulfing several unlucky bastards.
At the same time, Naraku achieved an accomplishment almost never seen in the original story: using Fire Release to kill people!
However, at that moment, Naraku suddenly realized this ninjutsu had a fatal flaw—it was better suited for open areas.
If he kept releasing Great Fire Annihilation, the burning flames would eventually engulf himself. Realizing this, Naraku decisively cut off the ninjutsu, avoiding an embarrassing situation.
After all, getting swallowed by his own fire sea would be truly humiliating—like grinding flour naked while spinning in circles.
Watching the bounty hunters scatter in panic, Naraku directly used Shadow Clone Technique, creating ten clones to chase after them.
Naraku's main body pursued the leader who had just spoken. As Naraku closed in, the leader grew more and more panicked.
He didn't dare form seals to defend or attack like the earlier hothead—he simply swung his ninja sword desperately toward Naraku with all his might.
One second later, the leader looked in shock as his weapon was cut like tofu. Immediately after, his body was also cleaved in two, blood splashing in the air in a bloody, shocking scene.
The nearby bounty hunters who hadn't run far saw this and broke through their previous limits in escape speed.
Truly, human potential is forced out!
The battle ended quickly. Naraku counted and found he had let three small fries escape.
Through this fight, Naraku also discovered his own shortcomings: lack of conventional offensive and defensive ninjutsu. For example, when the enemy used kunai earlier, he realized he didn't have any particularly good defensive ninjutsu.
He couldn't just summon Triple Rashomon for a few kunai, right? For offense, besides the powerful Great Fire Annihilation, he only had Great Fireball—which was mainly for controlling enemy positioning.
Naraku planned to seriously expand his ninjutsu mastery after returning to Konoha. With three-tomoe Sharingan and full-attribute chakra, plus his terrifying chakra reserves—if Naraku wanted, he could easily steal Kakashi's title as the Copy Ninja.
Finally, his tactics were lacking—but since Naraku didn't have many ninjutsu yet, there wasn't much room to optimize tactics.
In the end, it was still lack of experience. Although Naraku had never seen Hatake Sakumo kill, he always felt Sakumo wouldn't cut people in half and spill intestines everywhere like he just did.
At this moment Tsunade remembered she had agreed to become Naraku's teacher. So she said to Naraku: "Your combat power is already very strong for someone from ninja academy—just from what you showed earlier, you can already compare to elite chūnin.
But there are still problems—your fighting style is too immature. Once we're back in Konoha, I'll train you properly!"
Naraku said seriously: "Then I look forward to Teacher's training in advance!"
Beside them, Jiraiya always felt the two were speaking strangely. Jiraiya reflected that maybe he himself was too perverted, seeing filth in everything. Afterward he silently took Nawaki on his back.
Later, out of concern about another ambush, the group sped up and safely reached Konoha.
Naraku looked back—this trip he couldn't help leaving marks everywhere. Since the return route wasn't exactly the same as the way there, it meant Naraku now had two potential escape routes for the future.
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